“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Friday, 18 November 2016

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 18/11/2016: Willow Smith, The Flaming Lips, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and more...

Everyone’s on drugs this week.

THE BEST:

‘November 9th’ – Willow Smith

I had dismissed Will Smith’s
offspring as a pair of pretentious fucks, but lately both Willow and Jaden have
been pleasantly surprising me with their musical output. Released on the day of
the election results, this song sees Whip-My-Hair-star Willow taking on a reassuringly
positive stance. ‘Baby girl I know you’re
tired/ Don’t let the world put out your fire’, she croons soothingly over lazy
guitars. Her message seems to be: ‘it’s not an ideal outcome, but we’ve got to
deal with it’. For the sake of Willow’s ego, I won’t dissect it any further.

‘How???’ – The Flaming Lips

After last year’s unprecedented ghastly
collaboration with Miley Cyrus, psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips now seem
to be thankfully returning to form, as evident from this delectably druggy
dirge made up of celestial synths and belching bass. I’m not sure what the
blurred buttcracks in the video are about, nor do I understand Wayne’s lyrics
about trailer trash and earthworms. Do I want to know?

‘Rattlesnake’ – King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard

Fellow psych-rockers King Gizzard
and The Lizard Wizard hail from Melbourne and have a certain fondness for retro
ideas. Centred entirely around one chugging riff, 7-minute epic ‘Rattlesnake’
could be a Deep Purple song, minus the harmonica and weird Arabic trumpet
thing. The retro-CGI music video meanwhile plays out like a game of Guitar Hero
on bad shrooms.

‘Glide (Favorite Girl)’ -
Flamingosis & Ehiorobo

My boy Ehi has teamed up with New
Jersey producer Flamingosis and the result is zero-gravity soul-funk smoother
than a baby’s bottom. Check out my interview with kooky r&b singer Ehiorobo
here.

‘You’re boring! You’re boring! There’s nothing to you!’ These New
York hardcore punks won't help your kids to sleep. Their anger is so beautifully raw,
you almost want to throw something at the nearest wall. THERE GOES MY
LAPTOPPPPPPPPPPPPP